Tiger Woods is coming! Tiger Woods is coming! The giddiness over Tiger's return to golf is reminiscent of the old Jerry Springer Show, where producers opened a national closet and provided television audiences with a daily parade of America's skeletons. Viewers enjoyed the top-rated daytime show for years, reveling in the voyeuristic joy of crowd condemnation. That mob mentality is evident today in what I call, the "Tiger Woods Syndrome."
What is Tiger Woods Syndrome?
Spotting Tiger Woods Syndrome (TWS) is easy. Simply channel surf until you find a group of journalists analyzing Tiger's entrails, slicing up sordid stories of his admitted affairs and demanding to know every detail. If there is an angle to Tiger's fall from sports heaven that hasn't been broadcast or published, there's a journalist working on it right now. In the meantime, we get to hear holier-than-thou journalists explain what Tiger should've done, might've done or ought to do now. It's sad to watch a national icon descend into a pit of pathetic hypocrisy. That icon is better known as the Fourth Estate.
Take the venerable New York Times as a prime example. It decided to put a name to Tiger's behavior, calling the beloved golf legend a "sex junkie." Given the Times' penchant for carefully weighing its words, I can only assume the decision to connect Tiger to drug addiction -- to which the word "junkie" is typically associated -- is a degrading verbal image signifying the Times' condemnation of Tiger.
"In just a few weeks, an image that took more than a decade and untold millions to construct was destroyed. Like all great tabloid tales of falls from grace, this one was anchored in contradiction. The athlete who dominated a sport of discipline, focus and self-control -- his father, an ex-military man, once compared him to Gandhi -- was a sex junkie."
The Times wasn't through with its demeaning dramatization. In referencing Tiger's dad's "mind tricks," it used one of its own -- the power of suggestion. There's no reason for media to label Tiger a "cheater" and a "cad" when a journalist can do so by merely raising the question that supposed phantom audience members might be wondering.
"Will his legendary ability to focus, honed from an early age by his father's Green Beret mind tricks, block out the knowledge that the tens of millions of people watching think he's a cheater and a cad? Will we even want him to sink that putt?"
Of course, the Times isn't the only media organization infected with TWS. But, like Tiger, it is an institutional icon.
Shocking Behavior!
The New York Times presumably leads the way to lofty higher ground in the media industry. It stands atop the top tier of newspapers in the nation. So, when the Times revels in the squalor, looks down its pointy nose and points its crooked finger at a forlorn Tiger -- whose skeletons have tumbled out of his branded golf bag -- it is exhibiting a performance as disgraceful as the jeering crowds on the set of Jerry Springer.
And when media pretend to be in shock and awe over the revelations of infidelity by a sports celebrity, it makes me wonder how long the CDC can sit idly by without producing a vaccine to stem the epidemic tide of TWS.
Of course, the story of Tiger is still ongoing. His admission, the fallout, his return and ... wait for it ... redemption.
Will Media Applaud Tiger's Comeback?
Is there any doubt that Tiger will resume his place atop the golf world's leader board at some point? If not at Augusta -- when he makes his historic debut in the aftermath of this scandal -- perhaps he will hold a trophy somewhere else during the course of this year.
The true joy is in celebrating Tiger's return. His personal life may have a long road to redemption, but I'm just a fan. Tiger owes me nothing. I never saddled him with my personal morals and values. And I never expected that he was a perfect person. I am not asking him to make huge decisions on my behalf as a leader in Congress or the White House. I'm not placing my trust in his personal judgment. I just want to watch him whack a ball hundreds of yards and sink it into a small hole on a landscaped lawn.
Higher Expectations
On the other hand, I have pretty high expectations of journalists. I would prefer they dig deeper than the salacious surface gossip that keeps track of the number of mistresses Tiger had, and instead, uncover the industry that courts professional athletes, musicians and actors. Maybe if the spotlight of public scrutiny were beamed down into the dark underbelly that welcomes the marriage of scandalous relations and facilitates opportunity for celebrities amid a daily barrage of temptation, America might actually have something at which to wag its parental finger.
Maybe the Times and other media think Tiger's travails are merely isolated personal failures that presumably compelled him to lurk in the shadows, searching the seedy sides of cities for his fix of sexual pleasure. Perhaps media have not recognized a continuous pattern of politicians, celebrities and athletes caught in a deceptive web that promotes and provides pleasure tailor-made to anyone's inner-most desires. Maybe if health care were an issue in such an underworld it might receive more media attention?
Then again, it just might be my over-active imagination, conjuring up worlds that don't exist and ignoring the obvious: Tiger has taken personal responsibility for his actions and is deserving of America's scorn and condemnation. Is this the conventional wisdom among journalists dissecting every word Tiger utters?
Legendary Words of Wisdom
I prefer to listen to another legendary golfer, Arnold Palmer:
"I will say we are disappointed Tiger isn't here to play," Palmer replied to the first question about Woods. "On any of the other issues -- you started your question with 'Move on' -- I think that's probably the best thing to do. Move on."